As part of the Europe Act Now campaign, a coalition of over 100 NGOs from over 30 countries have today sent an open letter to EU institutions and agencies laying out the NGOs’ recommendations in order to enhance safe and legal ways to access protection in the EU, reunite families torn apart by crisis, and stop pushbacks at the EU’s external borders for refugees including those fleeing the war in Syria.
It is now three years since the outbreak of the unrest in Syria that gradually led to an internal armed conflict. There are over 2.5 million registered refugees and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there will be 4 million refugees in the region by the end of 2014. In comparison, just 81,000 Syrians have sought protection in the EU, Norway and Switzerland by end of February 2014; representing just over 3% of the total number of people who have fled.
